Incubator.



J. B. RANNEY. INCUBATDR.

(Application filed Mar. 17, 1900.)

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No: 663,984. Patented Dec. |s,.|90o.

-' J. B. R'A'NNE'Y.

INCUBATOR.

(Application filed Mar. 17, 1900.\

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

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' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH B. RANNEY, OF BELLEFONTAINE, OHIO.

INACUBATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 663,984, dated December 18, 1900.

Application filed March 17, 1900. erial Nd. 9,107. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH B. RANNEY, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Bellefont-aine, in the county of Logan and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Incubator, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to incubators,and has for its object to so construct and arrange the parts thereof that the fresh air is introduced at a point the farthest from the heating arrangement, so as to secure as pure air as possible and also to utilize the incoming air to reduce the temperature of the egg-chamber at the bottom,and thereby render the machine as successsful in operation at one time of th year as it is at another.

With these objects in view my invention consists in the improved construction and novel arrangement of parts of an incubator, as will be hereinafter more fully set forth.

Referring to the accompanying drawings,

in which the same reference-numerals indicate corresponding parts in each of the views in which they occur, Figure 1 is a horizontal sectional view of my improved incubator. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the same. Fig. 3 is a broken perspective view of one end, and Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view ofthe incubator on line 4: 4 of Fig. 1.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, 1 indicates the body or main portion,"

which may be of any approved style or pattern, having the usual dead-air space 2 around it and the heater 3 at one end and the eggtray 4=in the center. The heater, which is preferably a suitable lamp supported below the body of the incubator, communicates with a passage or flue 5, which leads up through the'centralportion of the body at that end and is provided with a suitable damper 6 at its upper end. A hot-air flue7communicates with the vertical flue near its upper end and extends longitudinally of the body substan-v tially its entire length and is provided at its farthest end with branch pipes 8, the outer ends of which communicate with return-fines 9, which extend forward upon each side of the body above the eg -chamber nearly to the forward end. A jacket 10 surrounds the flue from the heater and is provided at its lower end with an opening 11,which communicates with the fresh-air passage 12.

The air-passage extends nearly the entire length of the body directly underneath the eg -chamber and has its inlet at a point 13 the farthest removed from the heater, thereby always securing the introduction of pure sweet fresh air. In addition to this the passage of the fresh air along the bottom of the eg -chamber will reduce the temperature of the-air within the egg -chamber to suchan extent that chicks hatched in my incubator in'July will be strong and healthy. For instance, when the temperature is standing at 103 at the egg-tray the air at the bottom of the chamber will only stand at 90, thereby causing the colder and foul air to settle tothe bottom and be forced out of the incubator byinto the discharge-outlet 18 beyond the heater and discharged into the open air at the point 19. An ordinary thermostatic regulator 20 is suitably connected with the partition and opcrates a damper by any suitable means which passes through the top of the body, as at 21.

In using my improved incubator the eggs are placed in the tray-in the usual manner and heat supplied by means of a lamp in the usual manner and the regulator adjusted to secure the desired heat and humidity within the egg-chamber. As the air between the jacket and the flue from the heater becomes heated it is driven in through the egg-chamber and out at the discharge-outlet. The movement of the heated air draws in a constant supply of fresh air along the bottom of the incubator, and'thus keeps the incubator always supplied with pure air at the desired temperature.

Although I have shown what I consider to be the best form for utilizing the result of my invention, yet I reserve to myself the right to make such changes and alterations therein as will come within the scope of my invention.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1. In an incubator, the combination, with the body provided with a, fresh-air conduit extending under the egg-chamber, the outer end of which communicates with the fresh air, a conduit leading from the inner end of the fresh-air conduit to the egg-chamber, a heater at the end of the body opposite the fresh-air inlet for heating the air as it passes through the second-mentioned conduit and an exit-conduit leading fromthe eggchamber, whereby the heated fresh air is circulated through said chamber, substantially as described.

2. In an incubator, the combination, with the body provided with afresh-air conduit extending nearly the entire length thereof under the egg-chamber and communicating with the exterior at opposite ends, one of which forms an inlet and the other one the outlet, and the intermediate portion extends vertically near the outlet end and longitudinally at the top to the opposite end to the egg-chamber, of a hot-air flue within the vertical and upper portions of the conduit, and a heater at the entrance to said flue, substantially as described.

3. In an incubator, the combination, with a bodyprovided with an inlet and an outlet, the bottom of the body being provided with a fresh-air passage under the egg-chamber, the outer end of which communicates with the inlet, of a jacket at one end of the body air at the other, a hot-air flue provided with branch pipes and return-fines, of a fresh-air pipe adjacent to the hot-air due and comn'iunicating with the top of the egg-chamber at one end, and with the fresh-air passage at the other, and a conduit leading from the bottom of the egg-chamber at the opposite end to the outlet, substantially as described.

In an incubator, the combination, with a hollow-walled casing, the space at the bottom forming a fresh-air inlet, and the inner wall at one end being perforated at the top and bottom, a perforated partition adjacent to said perforated end wall, a conduit between the partition and the perforated wall, the upper end of which communicates with the egg-chamber, and conduits between the perforated and outer end walls communicating with the outlet and with the egg-chamber through the perforations in the bottom of the end wall and partition, whereby the heated fresh air is circulated through the egg-chamber, substantially as described.

J. B. RANNEY.

Witnesses:

J. S. FULTON, J. HJSNYDER. 

